Here are 29 books that The Way fans have personally recommended once you finish the The Way series.
Book DNA is a community of authors and super-readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I am interested in social justice issues, and the books in my list deal with these issues. My background is in finance, but I’ve tried to use this knowledge to help others. I serve on the board of two not-for-profit organizations, one a dance company that works with at-risk teens in various countries, and the other is an animal sanctuary that takes in farm animals that have been abused. I consider myself very fortunate and privileged, and it's important to remember not everyone has had the opportunities I have had. I feel it’s crucial to connect with others, understand where they’re coming from, and help if you can.
I like the psychological nature of this book. It pits human beings against an idea–a computer model of society. Having a degree in economics the concept particularly intrigued me.
It showed no matter how big and important we think we are there are forces outside of our control. This was one of the most innovative books I have read.
The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION, NOW STREAMING • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings…
I have been an enthusiast of aviation, space, and science fiction since I was a child. I graduated in aerospace engineering while the Apollo missions reached the Moon, but then in the post-Apollo days, I worked mostly in the mechanical engineering field. In the 1990s, as a professor of machine design, I could return to aerospace. Later, as a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, I led a study group on human Mars exploration and wrote some research books in this field and a few science fiction novels. I have always been fascinated by the idea that humans can become a multi-planetary species, returning to the Moon and going beyond.
I like this novelvery much (I read it 3 times), and I think it is the best novel about Mars exploration I ever read. It mixes good scientific accuracy, with well-described and realistic characters, with adventure and mystery. It is as compelling as a thriller, and I found it very difficult to stop reading to go to sleep.
The main character at the beginning seems to be a loser, but as the story unfolds, he develops into a hero without losing his humanity. In the end, I read the sequel to meet him again and to understand some points which were left unsolved at the end of the first novel.
I know people who are not science fiction fans but liked this novel very much.
To the harsh landscape of Sol's fourth planet travel thirteen astronauts, the best scientists from eleven nations, on a history-making voyage into the unknown. The international crew of the Mars mission have spent nine months in space, crossing 100 million kilometres, to reach the last great frontier. Their voyage is fraught with disputes, both personal and political, and their time on Mars limited to 'footprints and flags'; yet while there they will come face-to-face with the most incredible and shocking discovery of all.
I can’t help but smile when I read stories about the underdog and the weak rising in strength. The small things that are overlooked are often what is most important, and something in me just itches to watch that tiny mustard seed grow into a powerful entity in its own right. When I started writing in earnest, I didn’t intentionally set my feet along the same paths. Nevertheless, the stories I write have my DNA within them. Though these books vary in genre, I’m excited to recommend them, and I expect that you’ll enjoy them as much as I did.
I found this book to be a fascinating science-fiction pandemic thriller that covers an epic time scale and some really crazy ideas. The writing captured my attention quickly, and I found this story to be an intense read. The plot surfaced moments in my imagination where I couldn’t help but question the likelihood of these events happening in our modern-day world.
I also relate to Christopher Dicken (the protagonist), a virus hunter who makes an unbelievable discovery. His attempts to uncover the truth about human evolution and save his family against what seems like every power on earth felt very real to me. It’s a wild story that has stuck with me over the years, and it’s definitely worth reading again.
Ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans wait like sleeping dragons to wake and infect again--or so molecular biologist Kaye Lang believes. And now it looks as if her controversial theory is in fact chilling reality. For Christopher Dicken, a "virus hunter" at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, has pursued an elusive flu-like disease that strikes down expectant mothers and their offspring. Then a major discovery high in the Alps --the preserved bodies of a prehistoric family--reveals a shocking link: something that has slept in our genes for millions of years is waking up.
Reading has been a passion of mine since I first learned how. Consuming books like a ravenous wolf, I explored worlds beyond my own imagining with a simple purchase of a bound novel (or lending from a library.) It gave me the one thing I couldn’t do in real life – escape from reality. In many ways, I’m only sane because I was able to remove myself from the horrific events of my upbringing. It put my feet in two camps – that of science fiction and of horror. I like to think of what could be and bring my readers to that alternate reality to delight or terrify depending on the genre.
I read all of the initial series of Star Trek books, and this one stood out to me due to the violent terrorist occurrence and the devastating outcome of the evil use of emerging technology. The event in the book left a profound effect on me as a human being. That one person would commit carnage of such an unimaginable level to accomplish their terrorist agenda shocked me. I never looked at the “innocence” of technological advancements the same way; nor did I ever believe again that humanity had only good intentions for itself and others.
Massive computer malfunctions are plaguing the Enterprise(t) when Kirk suddenly receives a shocking message from Star Fleet Command: Centaurus has been bombed and annihilated; thousands are dead. Give whatever help you can. Centaurus is a beautiful, peaceful planet, home to many humans -- including McCoy's daughter Joanna. The crew risks beaming down to investigate. But Kirk is thrown into a deadly struggle between violent enemy terrorists and vengeful Centaurians. Now Lt. Uhura, left alone in command, must jeopardize the cripple Enterprise(t) to save Centaurus, Kirk -- and Joanna McCoy!
Reading has been a passion of mine since I first learned how. Consuming books like a ravenous wolf, I explored worlds beyond my own imagining with a simple purchase of a bound novel (or lending from a library.) It gave me the one thing I couldn’t do in real life – escape from reality. In many ways, I’m only sane because I was able to remove myself from the horrific events of my upbringing. It put my feet in two camps – that of science fiction and of horror. I like to think of what could be and bring my readers to that alternate reality to delight or terrify depending on the genre.
This is one of the first science fiction books I read growing up. I distinctly remember being amazed by the world-building that took place. There was also the strange biological construct of the different alien species and how they interacted with humanity that I found mind-blowing. It was a foundational text for both my science fiction and horror writing. I haven’t read it since, but surely a book that made such an impression on a 10-year-old mind has to be included.
210 pages, science fiction novel of an explosion on another planet that results in interplanetary travel of Leonard and a brace of wilk, a nill, a hunter and a Being who appears out of nowhere
Reading has been a passion of mine since I first learned how. Consuming books like a ravenous wolf, I explored worlds beyond my own imagining with a simple purchase of a bound novel (or lending from a library.) It gave me the one thing I couldn’t do in real life – escape from reality. In many ways, I’m only sane because I was able to remove myself from the horrific events of my upbringing. It put my feet in two camps – that of science fiction and of horror. I like to think of what could be and bring my readers to that alternate reality to delight or terrify depending on the genre.
P.R. Adams paints a horrifying picture of earth after the complete and total collapse of humanity. The future is brutal, violent, and demands everything of the survivors to make it out alive. This tale pits a group of scientific survivors of a suspended animation experiment against the most brutal tribe forged from the fires of humanity’s destruction. It’s a graphic and nail-biting adventure from beginning to end.
Earth is dying, and humanity's only hope of survival will be somewhere among the stars. When Reggie Lee agrees to test Frontierza’s advanced hibernation technology in a month-long cryogenic sleep, he believes it will be a huge benefit to his career.
He couldn’t be more wrong.
The world he wakes to is nothing like he expects. It's a world where life is cheap, where the definition of human has changed, and only the strong survive. Does he have what it takes to make it in this new world, or will he become just another skeleton lost in the wastes?
Pick…
As a child, I lived in a small valley sheltered from the night city lights. I could see the stars, and from that time, that is where my imagination dwelled. As a teenager, I read several of the books I have listed here, and from that point, I was inspired to read more and also to write myself. I sincerely believe that despite our current problems, humanity will outlive its troubled childhood and reach for the stars. We are destined for the stars, and only in the works of science fiction writers is that future explored. The books below helped me to become a successful author in my own right.
The thing I like most about this book is that it is one of the most outstanding works of imaginative fiction I have ever read. Written as a sequel to The Time Machine, it celebrates the centenary of that book’s first publication.
This journey is more varied than the original. The hero journeys to different times and places and even gets marooned in one. I love the way the author uses the basic concept to explore various aspects of humanity’s future, such as the entire race living on the inner surface of a Dyson sphere around Sol.
I enjoyed journeying to different times and worlds, each vividly and realistically portrayed. I strongly recommend this work for lovers of time travel stories.
The highly-acclaimed sequel to H G Wells's THE TIME MACHINE.
Written to celebrate the centenary of the publication of H G Wells's classic story The Time Machine, Stephen Baxter's stunning sequel is an outstanding work of imaginative fiction.
The Time Traveller has abandoned his charming and helpless Eloi friend Weena to the cannibal appetites of the Morlocks, the devolved race of future humans from whom he was forced to flee. He promptly embarks on a second journey to the year AD 802,701, pledged to rescue Weena. He never arrives! The future was changed by his presence... and will be changed…
I’ve spent my career with my students exploring microbes in all kinds of worlds, from cosmetics on our skin to the glaciers of Antarctica. In Antarctica, I discovered bizarre bacteria that form giant red blobs; we call them the “red nose” life form. In our lab at Kenyon College, we isolated new microbes from a student’s beauty blenders. These experiences, and those of the books I list here, inspire the microbial adventures of my science fiction. If microbes could talk, how would they deal with us? Find out in my novel, Brain Plague. And I hope you enjoy all the microbial tales on this list!
This is the best novel I’ve read about bubonic plague.
Student historian Kivrin travels back in time to England of the Middle Ages—unknowingly at the start of the Black Death. The cause of Black Death was the plague bacteria, unknown to people of that time.
What makes the book memorable is its depiction of everyday life, where children who get lost in the forest must find their way home by the tolling of the village church bell. Ultimately, the bell tolls for all the plague’s victims.
The vivid characterization makes me experience people of a time so distant their minds feel alien to us, yet still deeply human.
"Ambitious, finely detailed and compulsively readable" - Locus
"It is a book that feels fundamentally true; it is a book to live in" - Washington Post
For Kivrin Engle, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing a bullet-proof backstory. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.
I can’t help but smile when I read stories about the underdog and the weak rising in strength. The small things that are overlooked are often what is most important, and something in me just itches to watch that tiny mustard seed grow into a powerful entity in its own right. When I started writing in earnest, I didn’t intentionally set my feet along the same paths. Nevertheless, the stories I write have my DNA within them. Though these books vary in genre, I’m excited to recommend them, and I expect that you’ll enjoy them as much as I did.
This book was easy to pick up and hard to put down, and immediately, I felt that the candor of the writing was like an extension of the main character, Beth. This is a tale about an orphaned girl who is beset on all sides by terrible situations, and of course, she is deeply affected by it all. I believe that tough times make tough people, and it always delights me to read about adversity being overcome by the downtrodden.
I loved how the story didn’t gloss over the inevitable changes that life brought Beth. She rose to the challenges and blossomed into a chess master in an arena that does not usually favor the young or the female. It’s inspiring!
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Now a highly acclaimed, award-winning Netflix series.
Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on…
I can’t help but smile when I read stories about the underdog and the weak rising in strength. The small things that are overlooked are often what is most important, and something in me just itches to watch that tiny mustard seed grow into a powerful entity in its own right. When I started writing in earnest, I didn’t intentionally set my feet along the same paths. Nevertheless, the stories I write have my DNA within them. Though these books vary in genre, I’m excited to recommend them, and I expect that you’ll enjoy them as much as I did.
I loved this book because Henry Martyn is a cunning and dreaded pirate. I think pirates are cool, but space pirates who have suffered at the hands of tyrannical and brutal overlords are positively exquisite in their vengeance. I also enjoyed this book because of its huge scope and the way it highlights the weaknesses of an overextended central government that is unable to provide justice for its citizens.
While the story of Henry Martyn can be dark at times, the process of his transformation from country folk to the terror of the Monopolity is very gratifying. By the time I got to the end, I couldn’t help but cheer when Henry crushed his enemies underfoot.
Armed with his wit and determination, Henry Martyn, a young rebel, sets out to regain his birthright, stolen from his family by a vicious vassal of an empire seeking to control the entire universe
